Morning Brief: Bush and Brown warn Iran

Top Story

Appearing together in London, U.S. President George W. Bush and British PM Gordon Brown issued a sharp new warning to Iran. Brown announced tougher sanctions against Tehran and committed an additional 200 troops to Afghanistan.

Global Economy

In a statement, G8 finance ministers warned about the effects of high oil prices on the global economy and called for increased production.

Honda has begun manufacturing the world’s first commerical hydrogen cars. The problem? Very few hydrogen filling stations.

Foreign travelers are finding bargains in the United States, thanks to the weak dollar.

Asia

A new mystery: Who got A.Q. Khan’s nuclear weapon blueprints?

China’s new environmental menace is earthquakes and floods.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is threatening cross-border raids into Pakistan.

South Korean construction workers have gone on strike in a new political headache for President Lee Myung-bak.

Middle East and Africa

Radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr is gearing up for Iraq’s regional elections, to be held this fall.

Iraqi politicians say they are in no hurry to sign a status of forces deal with the United States.

Saudi Arabia announced it will boost its oil production by 500,000 barrels. Markets fell only slightly on the news.

Israel’s settlement buildout plans are making Condoleezza Rice angry.

Europe

Flush with petrorubles, Russians are going abroad like never before.

Kosovo’s new constitution is now in force.

Decision ’08

Barack Obama upbraided absentee black fathers in a Father’s Day speech in Chicago.

Today’s Agenda

A top UN envoy is visiting Zimbabwe to review the political situation ahead of the June 27 presidential runoff.

After visiting Gordon Brown and the queen, President Bush is headed to Northern Ireland for the last leg of his Europe tour.

German chancellor Angela Merkel visits Polish PM Donald Tusk in Gdansk.

NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is visiting Ukraine, whose membership was denied earlier this year.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in Beirut for a surprise visit.